Collar



Dec. 4 1923. 1,476,118

J VA HEUSEN Fi l e d J u 1 y l 6 l 9 21 Patented 4-, 1923.

UNlTEB STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. VAN HEUSEN, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR 'I'O VAN HEUSEN PRODUCTS, INC., A CORPORATION OF DELAVJARE.

COLLAR.

Application filed July 1:,

T0 aZl whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jone: M. vAN HEUsi-LX, residing at Boston, in the county of Sufi'olk, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in soft folding or turn down collars made of multiply interwoven fabric and provided with an edgef old portion of increased flexibility; and more particularly to collars hav ing such an edgefold portion which is curvilinear so that, when the collar is folded at such curvilinear edge-fold portion, the outer or turn down portion of the collar will be longer than the inner neck-band portion.

Collars of the kind referred to have heretofore been made by a weaving operation in which the curvilinear edge-fold portion is made in the fabric at the time it is woven. According to the present invention the collar is made of a fabric which is not woven with a curvilinear weave, but in which the fold portion of increased flexibility is formed in the fabric after the weaving operation is completed.

In the production of the collars of the present invention I take a multiply interwoven fabric which may be woven in a broad loom and with a straight weave, as distinguished from a curvilinear weave, and 1 form the collar blank from such fabric. Instead of modifying the weave of the fabric along a curvilinear line to form the edge fold portion of the collar, I treat the fabric after the weaving operation is completed so as to form therein a weakened fold portion, that is, a portion of increased flexibility, which determines the fold line of the collar, so that the collar will fold at such fold line instead of at some other portion of the fabric.

According to the present invention, I subject the fabric, after it has been produced, to a mechanical operation, or to a combined mechanical operation and chemical treatment, which will form in the collar the desired weakened fold, that is a portion of increased flexibility at which the collar will fold.

One way of treating the fabric to produce 1921. Serial No. 485,194.

such a fold portion therein is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in a more or less diagrammatic manner, in which- Fig. 1 shows the fabric clamped between dies which are adapted to give it the desired treatment;

Fig. :2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig, 3 shows a collar made of the treated fabric.

In the drawing the fabric 1 is shown as clamped between upper and lower dies or vise members 2 and the upper and lower members are divided along a curvilinear line corresponding to the desired curvilinear fold line of the collar. When the upper and lower clamping members on one side of the fold line are raised or lowered with respect to the clamping members on the other side, the fabric will be stretched or distorted along the curvilinear line between the two sets of clamping members. This stretching or distortion may itself be suflicient to provide a weakened fold line or a fold portion of in creased flexibility, owing to the stretching and permanent distortion produced thereby. This stretching operation can, however, be promoted by inoistening the fabric along the said curvilinear portion thereof with a suitable solution which will facilitate the stretching operation and the permanent modification of the fabric thereby, for example, a solution of caustic alkali in the case of a cotton fabric.

lVhen the fabric has thus been stretched and provided with a fold portion of increased flexibility, it will more readily fold along this line. This line, however, need not coincide with the weave of the collar. For example, if the fabric is woven as a straight fabric, the curvilinear fold portion will depart from the straight line ofthe weave but this will be unobjectionable in the finished collar as the departure of the curvilinear fold from a straight line is not sufficiently great to interfere with the desired pleasing appearance which the collar is to have.

Collars produced in the manner described have the advantage over collars produced with a curvilinear weave that the collar blank can be cut from a piece of straight fabric and that the weaving operation for the production of the straight fabric does not itself require modification.

The mechanical stretching or treatment of the fabric for the productipn of the fold portion therein can be combined with the operation of cutting or stamping the collar blank from the fabric. For example, the die used in cutting the collar blank may surround the clamping members, by which the collar is stretched to give it its permanent set and form the fold portion therein, so that, when the collar blank is thus produced from the fabric, it will be produced not only of proper shape for the collar (after binding) but also with the curvilinear fold portion already produced the] tin. Such a collar, therefore, will only requirethe buts tonholes therein and the binding of the edge thereof to complete the collar manufacture. The edge of the collar may be bound in any suitable manner, for example, as described in my prior Patent No. 1,254,294.

When a collar is thus made of multiply interwoven fabric of appropriate weave. it will have a sufficient degree of stiffness without starching so that it will simulate in appearance the common laundered and starched collars. The different plies of the fabric may be made of different kinds of material; for example, the outer ply of the fabric may be made of a more expensive material of a. more pleasing appearance and the inner ply of a less expensive material.

I do not intend to include as part of my invention collars made of paper, or cloth and paper, which have along certain portions thereof one or more creases, dents or embossed portions which serve to: define the fold line. Collars of this sort are well known in the art and the problem of proriding a fold line in these collars is fundamentally and completely different from the problem presented in the multiple ply interwoven collar of my invention. Paper collars or paper and cloth collars are inher inseam ently tiff and rigid, and by creasing or embossing the fold line of these collars a permanent crease or distortion of the stiff material is effected. In multiple ply interwoven fabric collars the mere creasing or embossing a portion of the fabric would not result in the production of a permanent fold line. The fabric is relatively soft and pliable, and requires the treatment described in the foregoing specification in orderthat a permanent and satisfactory fold portion be produced. it will be further noted that in the collar of my invention the fabric on both sides of the fold portion of increased flexibility is adapted to lie in the same plane; that is, the fabric of one port-ion of the col lar does not, as in embossed paper collars, lie in plane which isparallel to but laterally displaced from the plane of the other portion of the collar.

1 claim:

1. A folding collar made up of a neckband portion and a folding or turned down portion woven integral therewith of multi pie-ply interwoven fabric, the neckband and folding portion being connected by a stretched curvilinear cdgefold portion of increased flexibility.

2. The method of providing a collar of multiple-ply interwoven fabric with a curvilinear edgefold portion of increased flexibility which comprises subjecting the finished fabric to a stretching operation along a curvilinear portion thereof.

3. The method of providing a fold por; tion of increased flexibility in a fabric collar which consists in permanently distortinn; the fabric along a portion thereof by subjecting the same to a mechanical and a chemical treatment.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN M. VAN HEU SEN. 

